I feel it worth pointing out that this is a very poor name. It’s not a disease that infects Nobelists—perhaps it even infects them less than others. RationalWiki agrees, saying:
In reality, this “disease” most likely demonstrates that even the most brilliant people are not immune to crank ideas and belief in such ideas will persist to some degree even among Nobelists
Also, in their list, two people are accused of supporting “eugenics”. While a popular boo light, there’s nothing unscientific or false about the basic proposition that deliberate breeding of humans can reinforce many specific positive traits, and reduce the occurrence of many specific negative ones. It’s especially effective for combatting classic recessive disorders like sickle-cell anemia.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nobel_disease has a tentative list.
I feel it worth pointing out that this is a very poor name. It’s not a disease that infects Nobelists—perhaps it even infects them less than others. RationalWiki agrees, saying:
Also, in their list, two people are accused of supporting “eugenics”. While a popular boo light, there’s nothing unscientific or false about the basic proposition that deliberate breeding of humans can reinforce many specific positive traits, and reduce the occurrence of many specific negative ones. It’s especially effective for combatting classic recessive disorders like sickle-cell anemia.
I’d guess the article name came from the blog post referenced below.
That post refers to the name as an existing one, though.
Cool, I collect these too. I’ll trade you climate change denialist Ivar Giaever for creationist Rick Smalley, a Philipp Lenard for a Johannes Stark, and autism crank Nikolaas Tinbergen for faciliated communication fan Arthur Leonard Schawlow.